Did Chip and Joanna Gaines' 'Fixer Upper' fans break Waco? (2023)

Then in 2013, Americans saw a new side of Waco thanks to Chip and Joanna Gaines, hosts of the Home and Garden Television network's "Fixer Upper." The couple became America’s sweethearts with Chip's goofy nature and Joanna's model looks—not to mention their religious values, swarm of handsome children, family focus and design skills.

Nine years later, the couple has a new show on their own network, named for their thriving Magnolia brand, as well as magazines, books, apparel and design lines. And Waco itself has become a star.

"Fixer Upper" fans flock to Waco’s Magnolia Market at the Silos, the shopping complex that encompasses two downtown city blocks. After Magnolia Market opened in 2016, the city saw a 165 percent increase in tourism in one year, according to the Waco Convention & Visitors Bureau. An average of 2.5 million people visited Waco at its pre-pandemic heights, with 1.7 million visiting in 2021.

Some of those visitors decide they want to live in the city known as "The Heart of Texas."

Waco is a dichotomy. It’s a city with an average household income of $40,349 and where more than 25 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to the most recent U.S. Census. But it is also the home to Baylor University where undergraduate tuition sits at $51,738 per year. Where tourists can buy a $58 candle from Magnolia.

While Magnolia's success has been a boon to the Waco economy, local homeowners are experiencing the ill effects of living in a now-famous city. The increase in property values has led to a substantial rise in property taxes that some Wacoans find themselves struggling to afford. Homeowners received an average tax appraisal increase of 29 percent, KWTX reported. Magnolia did not respond to requests for comment.

Pam Hanson of Coldwell Bankers has been a realtor in Waco since 2004 and has witnessed the city’s growth, including one local who has to list his home because of the tax hikes.

"He's being forced out of his home because he can't afford to live there. He's being forced out of a home that he's earned for 30 years," she says. "That’s not the American dream."

Stinson Bland is a real estate investor who made the move from Dallas to Waco in July 2020 specifically for the property appreciation value. His company, Waco First Home Buyers, purchases "distressed properties" that are either then renovated and sold, or used as rental properties. Last year, Bland bought and sold 46 homes in Waco.

As part of the Waco First business model, Bland says he tends to invest in homes that are in older neighborhoods with houses that have been in a family for generations and owners that are living on a fixed income.

"When we go in and buy a property and basically renovate the entire thing then sell it for basically two or three times the value that it was previously sold for—what happens is it increases the value of the homes in the area," Bland says. "And it’s not just me doing this, there are hundreds of people doing it too."

The Loss of Home

Two 120-foot-high silos that once housed cotton seed are now a part of Magnolia Market, a shopping complex covering two city blocks in Waco.

Here, flowers bloom, Astroturf gleams, and each element is designed in Joanna's trademark farmhouse style. There are stores, a coffee shop, a restaurant, a bakery, food trucks and even a baseball diamond. A historic church sits in the middle of the commotion, a spot where visitors wander in quietly to take a peek at the architecture before heading outside to more intriguing interests. Tour buses idle outside the compound's black metal fence where visitors from around the country disembark to see Magnolia in person.

Those who decide to see the city via bus will visit spots such as Baylor's campus, shops featured in "Fixer Upper," and the city’s largest park.

However, the tour does not take them past Kate Ross Apartments, the city's 80-year-old low-income apartments that face an uncertain future with its prime location on I-35. The bus does not drive by South Terrace, the public housing that was converted to subsidized housing. The tour director does not describe how Marsha Martie's daughter and grandchildren had to find a new place to live when the Wendy's manager and mother of five had her rent raised to $1,250 a month.

The tour bus will not stop at a small blue house with brand new hotels on one side and family homes on the other. This is the Gospel Café, a nonprofit that provides free meals to absolutely anyone who visits.

CrossTies Ecumenical Church of Waco purchased the abandoned house on 10th Street in 1996 to transform it into a safe space for all to enjoy a warm meal. Martie, the pastor of CrossTies, knows the families who live down and across the street from the nonprofit. She has witnessed the residents' forced relocation from the area as Waco's bursting economy clashes with established communities.

"I look at the kids. They had their grandmother right there next door or down the street—that's gone. Families and friends who have known each other forever—gone," Martie says. "That destruction of community just tears at my soul. That is absolutely the worse outcome."

The rise in popularity of Waco's downtown has resulted in a need for more—and chicer—lodging options for tourists. Those neighborhood families find themselves either facing evictions from landlords or find themselves forced out by escalated property taxes.

Martie describes the recent displacement of people in the neighborhood as "violent."

"We have businesses now instead of family homes," Martie says. "We have only a part of one block left that would look like a part of the old neighborhood."

The influx of "Fixer Upper" fans pouring funds in downtown businesses and the need to lodge those visitors led to downtown properties being snatched up, renovated, and typically resold as short-term rentals. Hanson says that homes in downtown Waco now sell for $300 a square foot, where they were selling for $18 a square foot a few years ago. The median price per square foot in Texas is $153.

Hanson explains that downtown mainly consisted of Section-8 housing, vacant, abandoned, or damaged buildings, and the area was not in high demand. Now, short-term rentals pepper the neighborhood that Joanna herself could have designed with their white siding, black accents, and front porches.

"That alone has really driven up the prices of those homes and has pushed some people out of the area," Hanson explains. "Especially if they weren’t the homeowners."

One recent client "couldn't pass up the market" and listed his rental property for sale. The tenant who had lived in the home for 30 years had to find another qualified Section 8 home. "She was a great tenant, but it just made sense to dump the property in this market," Hanson says.

As a real estate investor, seller, and landlord for Waco First, Bland has seen all sides of the current housing crisis in Waco. The standard homeowner is not the only one who felt the hurt of the property tax increase in Waco, some landlords found themselves facing a conundrum.

"As a landlord, when your taxes double or triple, you either have the choice to maintain a rental at a loss—or you can increase the rent to offset the cost," Bland says. "As a landlord, we're forced by the taxes to raise the rent."

Martie’s voice gets thick with emotion as she recalls the Gospel Cafe's neighbors who found themselves with an eviction notice in hand. But does she blame the affable DIY titans?

"I have never thought to blame the Gaines for this. This is not their fault," Martie says. "They moved there but this is capitalism. Private enterprise. It wasn’t the Gaines going around buying houses in our neighborhood—it was others looking to make a profit off the Gaines."

A Different Waco

When out-of-state buyers call Hanson with the hopes of purchasing a Waco home—sight unseen—she discourages them from doing so. Then, she educates them about the area with information such as school ratings, crime rates, resale values, and other factors that are difficult to envision when perusing images on Zillow.

"There’s a reason a house is a good deal," Hanson says. "I've had some people move out of state to the Waco proper areas and then not be so happy with the surrounding properties…The properties on the show are great but they don’t show the neighborhood and the neighborhoods are still going through gentrification."

Bland’s fiance Daniella Rodriguez is the realtor for Waco First Home Buyers and he estimates that 25 to 30 percent of their buyers have been from out of state.

"I feel like a lot of these buyers watch Chip and Joanna—and I love Waco, Waco is my home—but they make it look a lot different than it is," Bland says. "When people call [Danielle] from out of town, they're generally looking for things that don't exist like: 'I want a three bedroom, two bathroom home in a beautiful neighborhood for a 100 grand.' There’s this whole misconception about what exists due to TV."

If buyers spot a house within a desirable neighborhood that they would like to purchase, chances are a homeowner lives there who isn't interested in selling.

"I have gotten calls almost every day for the last three weeks from somebody random wanting to buy my house," says Leah Stewart, a downtown business owner who lives in the desirable Cameron Park area. "I come home to notes taped to my front door, 'I'm a realtor, are you interested in selling? I have three people that want to buy your home.' I mean, it’s crazy."

Hanson says that affordability is the number one reason why people relocate to Waco. But that "Fixer Upper" is what put Waco in the running against larger cities for out-of-state residents wanting to make a move.

Robert G. Callahan, II is a local defense lawyer who has lived in Waco for 20 years. He says that they were only able to purchase a home six years ago in the red hot market because it was for sale by owner. He knows of people who have moved to Waco specifically because they see the Gaines' conservative, Christian lifestyle and desire the same. "Some of them even specifically even came and bought older houses hoping they'd be able to have them fixed up by Magnolia," he says.

Hanson says that people who come in pursuit of the "Fixer Upper" life often find themselves purchasing outside of Waco. After all, the Gaines themselves don't even live within city limits but rather in one of the small surrounding towns.

"I think the show drives them to Waco proper first," Hanson says. "I think they see Waco proper, I hate to say it, but they see the school ratings and most end up going to the suburbs."

These buyers tend to head to Woodway, Hewitt, China Spring, Robinson, and Lorena—all small towns that surround Waco. According to Zillow, the average home price in Woodway has increased from $189,000 in May 2013 to $407,000 in June 2022. Woodway's population is 93.2 percent white, compared to Waco's 66.9 percent white population.

Revitalizing Downtown

Waco sits nearly directly in the middle of Austin and Dallas along Highway 35. Before the Gaines headquartered their company—now worth $750 million according to a report by Ok!—in the city, downtown Waco was a sleepy spot with a few restaurants and bars scattered throughout. The only "skyscraper" (and the oldest standing skyscraper in Texas) stands at 22 stories high and proudly boasts its name in red neon lights: "ALICO."

Stewart has lived in the city since she graduated from Baylor University in 1998. She opened her restaurant The Olive Branch in 2003 and was a part of early efforts to revitalize downtown before the Gaines entered the scene. "There wasn’t enough momentum or wealth," Stewart says of the movement. "A lot of us were young and we didn’t have the power or backing."

While downtown did see improvements thanks to these efforts, the area didn't become a destination until the Magnolia empire came to town. The 72-year-old Silos had stood empty since the 1990s until the Gaines saw potential in the patina buildings and surrounding land. Magnolia Market is not the only property that the Gaines have purchased and refurbished—Magnolia owns 37 properties in McLennan County, according to property records.

As customers wait in line at Silos Baking Co. for a famous Magnolia cupcake, they can glimpse a squat brown building two blocks north. This is the Salvation Army's Community Kitchen and Men's Shelter, but it won’t be there for much longer. The rumor around Waco is that the nonprofit is being pushed to relocate.

"I think that there’s been a really big movement to move transient people out of downtown for looks, for tourists, for safety, for whatever reason," Stewart says. "A lot of the places that they used to be able to afford to get a room are getting torn down or reutilized for other things."

Major Jim Taylor, a corps officer with Waco’s Salvation Army, said via email that the move is due to logistics rather than looks. There are no finalized plans yet for the Salvation Army's downtown location.

Waco is well-known in the state for its local nonprofits that aid the transient population. Students from across Texas attend Mission Waco's Poverty Simulation where they experience a weekend of living on the streets. Waco Mission even holds church services under I-35 with wealthy Baylor students sitting next to lower-income locals. As downtown properties continue to be converted into short-term rentals, charming retail options or other amenities for tourists—Wacoans are concerned about the transient population that calls the area home.

"In some regards, it's kind of that the space has been unclaimed and unused, it has been available for the transient population," Callahan explains. "But now it's coming to life again, and there's definitely the consideration of how can we fairly treat this population while at the same time this is an area that is booming and is honestly fairly exclusive... It's definitely the case that as one group is experiencing unprecedented growth and prosperity—the other is being overlooked."

Bland does not like to use the word "gentrification" because of the negative connotations attached to it. But he acknowledges that is what is occurring in Waco, especially downtown where long-term residents are finding themselves relocated.

"It’s negative for the people who have been here for a long time and are long citizens of Waco," Bland says, "but for the long-term success of the city, changes like that have to be made. It’s a Catch-22."

When Deborah Korpi moved to Waco with her husband, Michael, 40 years ago, they purchased a house down the street from where the Silos stand.

Korpi recalls how the couple's friends balked when they purchased the home. "We were like crusaders to move downtown. People thought we were insane because downtown was a ghost town," she says. "We thought we were going to be sojourners."

After their home was broken into multiple times—once Korpi encountered the thieves as she returned home with her children—they packed up and moved eight miles down the road to Woodway. A Torchy's Tacos now sits on the former lot of their downtown home.

Dreams of bringing downtown back to life are what led the couple to initially settle in the area all those years ago. Korpi recalls collecting photos of downtown Waco as it was before so many buildings became empty.

"[The Gaines] brought it back to life. Who else could have done that?" Korpi says. "Joanna's a hometown girl. She grew up in a town she loved, she married her college sweetheart. They could have gone anywhere, but here they are."

Around the corner from the Gospel Cafe and a five-minute walk to Magnolia, two houses stand side-by-side. One, an Airbnb that looks blessed by Joanna; the other, abandoned.

Visitors to the Airbnb find what is promised on the listing: a bright white house with black trim, two stained wood pillars holding up the tiny front porch and immaculate landscaping.To the right, they see a faded yellow house with large boards covering the windows spray-painted with the message "KEEP OUT."A for sale by owner sign is pinned next to the front door.

The Airbnb is currently rated 4.84 stars with an average rate of $268 a night (and another $215 in fees tacked on for each stay). The property description addresses the next-door neighbors who might not live up to the "Fixer Upper" hype.

"This is an up-and-coming neighborhood! You'll notice several new fixed up houses, along with some houses that are disheveled and...well, need some fixing up," the owner's listing reads. "Each year we live here we see the whole city slowly, but surely, being transformed. Our neighborhood is one of many that are all part of the transformation of this city. It's not perfect, but all of Waco feels this way."

A previous version of this article implied that Waco Tours took a specific route across the city.